Sunday Morning Coming Down

The Fountain of Youth is run at 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park.  It is a prep race for the Florida Derby and awards 50 points to the winner towards qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.  The race will be run on Saturday, March 3, 2018.  The purse is $400,000. The race is named for the elusive spring of eternal youth which the explorer Ponce de Leon searched for unsuccessfully. Previous winners of the Fountain of Youth, Orb, Tim Tam, Kauai King, Thunder Gulch went on to win the Kentucky Derby. If you win this race you will most likely have enough points to run at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. The probable favorite for the race will be Good Magic who won the Breeder's Cup Juvenile in 2017.  Other possible contenders are Marconi, Free Drop Billy, Storm Runner, and Strike Power. The winner will probably run in the Florida Derby on March 31, 2018.  The purse for the Florida Derby is $1,000,000 and is run at 1 1/8 mile. Lot's of things can ha...

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks was fined $600,000 by the NBA for saying it would be best if his team lost this year and got a chance for a better draft choice.  There was a baseball movie called Major League where the owner had the same idea.  The movie was fictional, however any resemblance to the Miami Marlins is coincidental. Gambling on sporting events is problematic at best. 

There are three Kentucky Derby Prep races this weekend that have points to qualify for the Derby.  The Risen Star will be run at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, the El Camino Real Derby, at Golden Gate in Berkley, and the Southwest Stakes, at Oak Lawn Park in Hot Springs. The Risen Star, formerly known as the Louisiana Derby Trial, was renamed the Risen Star in 1989 after the horse won the Preakness andd Belmont Stakes in 1988.  Gun Runner won the race in 2016 and went on to win almost $16,000,000.  Installed Regard is the morning line favorite in 2018 and the purse is $400,000.  The winner gets 50 points towards qualifying for the Derby. The Southwest Stakes which was the Southwest Handicap has been lengthened to 1mile and 1/16 and is also a prep for the Arkansas Derby.  The purse is $500,000.  Mourhino is the probable favorite in a race with some other good horses. The winner will receive 10 points towards qualifying for the Derby. The El Camino Re...

If you give money to a politician running for office it's possible he is sending some of that money to the NRA.  I'm not sure how many folks agree with that use of campaign funds but it seems to be legal as a form of speech.  There are more than a few membership levels and even a business type of membership.  The NRA promotes the rights to acquire, possess, collect, exhibit, transport, carry, and transfer ownership of guns and seems to oppose anything that restricts anything related to guns. NRA Campaign contributions are in the millions to Sen. John McCain, Sen. Richard Burr, Sen. Roy Blunt, Sen. Tom Tillis,  Sen. Cory Gardner, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Joni Ernst, Sen. Rob Portman, Todd Young, and Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Attorney General of Florida, Pam Bondi was quoted on Wednesday:   "I have five advocates heading in right now, I will have at least 10 more tomorrow, driving in from all over the state," she continued. "We will pay for the funeral expen...

There is only one Kentucky Derby Prep Race this weekend. The Grade III Sam F. Davis at 1mile and 1/16 is being run at Tampa Bay Downs this Saturday.  Ten points and a purse of $250,000 are on the line.  The race is also considered the major prep for the Tampa Bay Derby. The race is named in honor of Sam F. Davis  who was named the track president in 1972.  Catholic Boy is the favorite in the race having won the Remsen in December.  He seems to like the dirt.  During the Revolutionary War, the Remsen Family owned a great deal of Long Island, New York. Some very good horses have run at Tampa Bay Downs including Street Sense who won the Kentucky Derby in 2007 and followed that up with a victory in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga the same year.  Street Sense is the sire of McKinzie and Avery Island who could make it to Louisville this year.

Once again the issue of immigration is on the front burner.  There are a variety of immigration programs on the books and there are a variety of terms that have been used to describe them. The laws  affect folks of various backgrounds differently.   Naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, visa recipients based exceptional employment skills or visa recipients that will work in fields for which there are insufficient qualified workers all play a part in our immigration system.  Immediate family members of Naturalized Citizens and lawful permanent residents are also allowed to apply for visas to come to the United States. There are a bunch of other classifications for entrance into this country related to political asylum, refugees, natural disasters, human trafficking, crime victims and domestic violence and other humanitarian reasons. Who doesn't want to reunite families, attract good workers, fill holes in the labor market, educate students from around ...

Sometimes discussing politics is a losing proposition.  It can just be uncomfortable, hardly ever changes anybodies mind, the undercurrents of most political conversations these days are places you don't really want to go. A few days ago a couple of displaced Chicagoans discussed Vienna Beef Hot Dogs, fluorescent green relish, poppy seed rolls at a bar.  From there it went to the best place for Italian Beefs, Italian Sausage, and combos.  A guy across the bar said he didn't like deep dish Chicago pizza.  And so it went.  Food is a safe topic, sort of like how do you like your eggs? Older geezer types then started discussing sports.  Lately even the Superbowl has been touched by politics, or cheating, or health related issues so about the only safe subject is what are your numbers in the squares game that is played just about everywhere.  The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 1961 and Joe mentioned Glenn Hall, the goalie.  I've been t...

There are three big prep races for the 2018 Kentucky Derby on Saturday.  The Holy Bull, The Robert B. Lewis, and The Withers will be run at Gulfstream, Santa Anita, and Aqueduct respectively.  The winners will ten points towards qualifying for the Kentucky Derby on May 5, 2018. The Holy Bull Stakes is named after the winner of the 1994 Florida Derby, The Haskell Handicap at Monmouth, and the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.  He finished 2014 season winning the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park against a strong field.  It more than made up for a poor showing in the Kentucky Derby that year where he finished twelfth. Californian, Robert B. Lewis is the namesake of the prep race at Santa Anita.  He owned one of the largest beer distributorships and many great race horses that were trained by Bob Baffert or D. Wayne Lucas.  His most famous horses were Silver Charm and Charismatic who were both Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners in 1997 and 1999.  His wife, ...